Mobility Critical for Customer Engagement

IT decision makers believe cloud-based applications and solutions and enterprise mobility will yield the biggest returns to their companies in 2016.

More than 90 percent of IT decision makers see enterprise mobility as the critical function for customer engagement, competitiveness and operational productivity in 2016, according to an Appian study of 306 decision makers, which was conducted by Harris Poll.
Additionally, nearly three in four (73 percent) say their companies are planning to mobilize the entire organization.
Among the key findings, the majority of respondents believe cloud-based applications and solutions (70 percent) and enterprise mobility (61 percent) will yield the biggest returns to their companies in 2016, with 87 percent reporting enterprise mobility as critical to their company’s profitability.
"We were surprised by the realization that mobile business means more than just an app has come more quickly than even we at Appian thought it would. Businesses are disenchanted with just apps – they want a true mobile environment where real work gets done," Michael Beckley, Appian’s CTO, told eWEEK. "Our survey findings show that organizations are more than ready to address critical business processes from anywhere and on any device. IT and business leaders realize now is the time for this."

"The bottom line is you cannot meet 21st Century customer expectations without mobile," Beckley said. "Furthermore, if you want to deliver an exceptional customer experience, your employees need mobile engagement as well. You need the fast, collaborative and intuitive environment that a mobile platform provides to ensure that that every process, every piece of work, is handled optimally."
An overwhelming majority (92 percent) of respondents agree that new approaches are required to mobilizing an entire enterprise, with approximately 85 percent agreeing that custom software applications are key.
The survey also found companies with higher annual revenue ($100 million or more) are significantly more likely than those at lower revenue companies (under $100 million) to report the following three benefits: competitiveness (49 percent versus 32 percent), customer engagement (45 percent versus 31 percent) ,and agility (40 percent versus 27 percent).
"Appian customers are large global enterprises. As our survey shows these organizations have the most to gain in adopting a mobile strategy for their customers and workforce," Beckley noted. "However, small businesses can use a native cloud and mobile application platform as an equalizer, to create the same kinds of experiences offered by larger competitors, in a cost-effective manner."